#Budget24: tax breaks put before the NHS & crumbling public services
Today, Jeremy Hunt announced the government’s spring budget. After two budgets that included no extra funding for the NHS, this latest budget sees our NHS once again starved of investment, as tax breaks are put before public services.
This decision has severe implications and only deepens the crisis within an NHS already struggling with long waiting lists, delays in urgent care, and critical staffing shortages. Here’s what you need to know…
Hunt announced a measly £2.5bn “extra” to the NHS for next year. This is just enough to stop spending falling compared to this year: it's NOT a spending increase, despite government attempts to portray it as such.
With our NHS facing rampant inflation and increased patient demand for years to come, this lack of investment will inevitably result in real-terms cuts.In fact, on Monday the IFS warned that the NHS faced its biggest real-terms cut since the 1970s.
With Hunt pressing ahead with tax breaks, he is doing nothing more than giving with one hand and taking away with the other.
By prioritising tax cuts over crucial investment in our crumbling public services, the government is choosing to ignore the NHS crisis; putting patients' health at risk. People are already losing their lives due to delays in care caused by the crisis in the NHS - this budget will only result in more preventable deaths.
When our collective health should be paramount, they’re thinking about how to keep their jobs. This is reflected in polls, even in Jeremy Hunt's own constituency, where there's a strong public preference for NHS funding over tax cuts. With health and the NHS as top voter concerns, it’s clear that government priorities are misaligned with the needs of the public.
Investing in the NHS isn’t just the right thing to do - it’s also economically wise, yielding a £4 return in Gross Value Added for every £1 spent. Viewing the NHS as a key economic driver in society - not a drain - is a vital perspective shift for policy and decision-making.
The NHS' crippling staffing crisis, with 100,000 vacancies in England, is a glaring testament to the urgency of increasing health spending. Without addressing this, patient care, staff morale and service efficiency cannot improve.
Not only this, but NHS leaders have been raising the alarm about the desperate need for more capital investment to address the crumbling facilities in our health service. The longer these facilities are neglected, the worse their conditions will get and the higher the costs will be in the long term.
Hunt did announce investment for a “productivity plan” aimed at modernising NHS IT systems. There’s no doubt that this area needs improvement, but there are many questions left unanswered.
Where will the money come from? Is it simply being syphoned away from departmental spending? And how will giant tech corporations benefit from this plan? The government has eroded patient trust and has a terrible track record on health tech…
In summary, with this latest budget, it could not be more clear that the government is putting everyone's health at risk in a desperate attempt to save their political skins.
The model of tax cuts at the expense of public services has been widely criticised for pushing thousands into poverty, which will in turn only make the pressures on public services even greater.
Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned against tax cuts, stressing the need for investment in health and education. The truth is that increasing health spending is absolutely vital - there's no way out of the NHS crisis without it.
Shamefully, neither Conservatives nor Labour seem to recognise this, with both parties refusing to commit to any significant increases to the NHS’ budget.
The NHS cannot endure another five years of the same failed policies. Political leaders across the spectrum must recognise and act upon the necessity for substantial funding increases to safeguard our healthcare system.
The health and lives of millions depend on it.